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Selene
Selene is a Vampire Death Dealer, sired by Viktor after he had slaughtered her family unknown to her. She was born to Hungarian parents sometime in 1383. Later in the story, she becomes the first Vampire-Corvinus Strain Hybrid. Her lover is Michael Corvin, and they have a daughter together, Eve. She is the main protagonist of Underworld, Underworld: Evolution, and Underworld: Awakening. She is portrayed by actress Kate Beckinsale, and as a child by Lily Sheen. In Underworld: Endless War, her voice is provided by Laura Harris. History Early life Selene was born to a Hungarian family sometime in the year 1383. Her father was a well-known architect who helped design a fortress for a Vampire general, Viktor. The fortress was a dungeon intended for the imprisonment of the Werewolf William Corvinus, who was condemned for his bloody and destructive behavior. As a child, Selene had roamed the halls of the dungeon alongside her sister, and drew on its walls. To keep the location of William's prison secret, Viktor killed Selene's entire family. However, he could not kill Selene, because she reminded him of his deceased daughter, Sonja, who he had killed after she became pregnant by a Lycan. Instead, Viktor made her a Vampire. He lied to her, telling her a pack of Lycans had killed her family, ensuring that she would never betray the species as Sonja had. In retaliation, Selene became a Death Dealer, and began to hunt and kill Lycans, intending to drive them into extinction. According to the ''Underworld: Evolution'' novelization, Selene was 19 years old when Viktor turned her. Kraven, the Coven’s regent, was obsessed with her, although she did not return the feeling. He pursued her for years, but she constantly rejected him, bruising his massive but fragile ego. Under the orders of Viktor, Selene exiled Andreas Tanis, the Coven historian. Selene believed that Tanis was spreading lies, as Viktor claimed, although this was another false truth. For 600 years, Selene remained loyal to Viktor, never believing anything ill of him. ''Underworld'' At the start of Underworld, Selene is seen sitting atop a building, lamenting the extinction of the Lycan species. She thinks to herself that her life will have no meaning once the species is completely wiped out, as she has dedicated herself to the extermination of Lycans since she first became a Vampire. Selene follows fellow Death Dealers Nathaniel and Rigel into a subway station as they hunt two Lycans, Raze and Trix. There, Selene sees a man she immediately notes as being handsome, though she declines to speak to him. Before the Vampires can make a move on the Lycans, Raze senses their presence and starts shooting at Selene and Rigel. Rigel is killed instantly, but Selene is able to avoid the gunfire long enough to shoot Trix after he leans out to shoot an innocent woman. Selene notices that the man she had seen previously rushes to aid the woman, and she admires his bravery. Selene chases Trix as he flees into deeper parts of the subway. Though Trix is able to ambush her, she quickly kills him and discovers the ultraviolet ammunition he was using. While in the tunnels beneath the subway, Selene discovers what she thinks may be a Lycan lair. She returns to Ördögház with news of the lair, but is promptly ignored by Kraven. Angered, Selene heads to the Elders' Chamber, where she stares at Viktor's resting place to ease her mind. She confides to Erika, a curious servant sent by Kraven to watch after Selene, that she dislikes Kraven and that Viktor would have believed her. Erika tries to persuade Selene to get ready for the arrival of the Elder Amelia's envoy, but Selene ignores her and begins sifting through pictures from the night's hunt. She discovers that the Lycans were tracking the man she had noticed in the subway, though she doesn't understand why. Believing she may be able to find proof of the Lycan den, she finds the human's name and address, then sets out to interrogate him. In the process, she ignores Kraven's orders to be present when Amelia's envoy arrives, angering him. Selene tracks down the human she believes the Lycans have an interest in: Michael Corvin. She kicks in his door and attacks him when he enters the apartment, demanding to know why the Lycans are searching for him. Before she can get her answers, Lycans attack the building and Michael runs off. Selene shoots her way to the bottom floor, where she rescues Michael from an unknown Lycan. Unknown to Selene, the Lycan bites Michael, infecting him with the Lycanthropy virus. The Lycan attacks Selene as she drives off, stabbing her in the shoulder and severing an artery. Selene refuses to listen to Michael when he tries to point out her large amount of blood loss, causing her to pass out and drive her car off a pier. Michael saves Selene and performs CPR on her, clearing the water from her lungs. He then bandages her wound and passes out beside her. When Selene awakens, she finds her wound has healed. She lays under the pier until night, then drives the unconscious Michael to Ördögház. There, Selene is berated by an enraged Kraven for staying out all day and for bringing Michael into the mansion. As Kraven yells at her, he mentions a Lycan named Lucian in the present tense, making Selene suspicious. She begins to suspect that Kraven never really killed Lucian as he claims to have done, and breaks into the Coven's archives to find proof of her theory. In one of the books, she sees a drawing of Lucian, which depicts him wearing the same necklace she saw the Lycan who attacked her the previous night wearing. Selene realizes that Lucian is alive and well, and that she saw him just the night before. Selene awakens Viktor, then flees the mansion with Michael, whom she learns has been bitten by Lucian. The two hide in a Vampire safe house, but Selene abandons him there once dawn approaches. Before she leaves, she kisses him, then handcuffs him to a chair. She gives him a gun with silver bullets to use in case he starts to turn. At the mansion, Viktor chastises Selene for awakening him a century ahead of schedule, and orders her to be judged by the Vampire Council, which he and Selene both know will be a death sentence. Kraven leads Selene back to her room, where he locks her in. After closing the door, Kraven tells one of his men to keep a close eye on Selene, as she is his "future queen". Erika, who is desperately in love with Kraven, becomes angered by this. She uses the opportunity to shut down power to the mansion and to free Selene from her room. As soon as she is released, Selene goes to Michael, but she is followed by a group of Lycans. The Lycans attack the pair, and are able to kidnap Michael. Selene finds one of the Lycans, Singe, still alive. She tortures him into confessing why the Lycans want Michael, then takes him back to the mansion to tell this to Viktor, clearing her name in the process. Upon hearing the Lycan's story and learning Lucian is indeed still alive, Viktor apologizes to Selene for doubting her. Before he leaves the room, he tells her that she must kill Michael. Conflicted, Selene joins a group of Death Dealers led by Kahn in an assault on the Lycan den, but quickly splits from the group to find Michael. She releases Michael from his bonds, and learns from him the truth of how the war between the Vampires and Lycans really started. As the duo try to escape, they are confronted by Kraven. Enraged at the sight of Selene with Michael, Kraven shoots Michael with silver nitrate bullets. Kraven then tells Selene that her place is by his side and offers her his hand, but she again refuses, looking longingly down at Michael. Angered, Kraven tells Selene about how her family really died and how the war started. Selene initially doesn't believe him, but she begins to understand he is telling the truth. On Lucian's advice, Selene bites Michael, infecting him with the Vampire virus. The combination of the two viruses makes Michael a Hybrid, a creature containing the strongest elements of both the Lycan and Vampire species. Selene confronts Viktor about her family and his actions that started the war after he throws Michael through a wall. Though he tries to explain his position, Selene clearly no longer trusts him. Viktor draws his sword and prepares to attack Michael, to which Selene cries out "No!". During Viktor's fight with Michael, Selene rushes to Michael's aid, killing Viktor's bodyguards in the process. Upon seeing Viktor strangling Michael to death, Selene grabs Viktor's sword and uses it to cut his head in half, saving Michael and avenging her family at the same time. Selene finds Sonja's pendant lying in the dirt and picks it up, recognizing that it is now a symbol of her love for Michael, as it had once symbolized the love between Sonja and Lucian. ''Underworld: Evolution'' After Viktor’s death, Selene and Michael go on the run from both Lycans and Vampires. Selene initially attempts to return to Ördögház, planning on awakening Marcus Corvinus, the remaining Vampire Elder, hoping to get to him before Kraven, inform him of the conspiracy, and to plead for Michael's life. However, her plan is foiled when she realizes Marcus has somehow become a Hybrid. At the same time, she hears gunshots and sees that Michael has caught the attention of human police officers, who are now shooting at him. Selene quickly incapacitates the officers and saves a bullet-riddled Michael by feeding him her blood. He initially refuses, but when she tells him that he'll die if he doesn't, he relents. Immediately after, Selene is confronted by Marcus, who attacks her when she does not immediately give him the information he seeks, intending to drink her blood and gain her memories. Michael intervenes, giving the pair time to escape. After narrowly escaping Marcus and the coming sunlight, Selene and Michael take refuge in a warehouse. In the warehouse, Michael attempts to tend to Selene's burn wounds, only to discover they have already healed. While hiding in the warehouse, the two finally act upon and consummate their affections for each other after their close brush with death. To find out why Marcus was after the pendant, Selene seeks out Andreas Tanis. Tanis initially tries to kill Selene and Michael upon seeing them, but fails. Instead, Selene attacks and kills Tanis's two lovers, then confronts Tanis himself. Tanis explains to her why Viktor killed her family, and reveals that it was Marcus, not Viktor, who was the original Vampire. He then sets up a meeting for her and Michael with Alexander Corvinus, Marcus’s father and the first true Immortal. Selene becomes angry with Alexander for not removing the threats his sons posed long ago, and hypocritically blames him for all the Lycans she murdered during her six century existence. Alexander then retorts by asking her if she would murder her own child, which she refuses to answer. An interruption by Marcus in which Michael is seemingly killed results in Selene’s memories of the fortress being taken by Marcus through her blood. Selene is emotionally torn apart by Michael's death, and tries desperately to revive him with her blood while mourning his apparent loss. Realizing that she cannot save him, Selene returns to Alexander's ship, intent on finding and killing Marcus. Before she does, she demands of Alexander's "Cleaner" soldiers that they take Michael's body with them to the fortress. Alexander tells Selene that the only way to defeat Marcus and William would be to drink his blood, adding that she would become the “Future”. Selene gains greater strength and new powers from Alexander’s blood, which she drinks from his slit wrist. Selene and the Cleaners invade William’s dungeon, trying to stop Marcus from releasing his brother. They arrive too late, however, and Selene is forced to fight Marcus. Marcus is shocked to smell his father’s blood flowing through Selene’s veins. After locking Marcus in William’s dungeon, Selene discovers that William has infected all the Cleaners, who then become true Werewolves themselves. On the verge of being overwhelmed, she is saved by Michael, who has regenerated due to his Hybrid powers. Selene fights Marcus once more, and the Elder drives his wing talon through her chest. Empowered by Alexander’s blood, Selene tears away the talon and drives it into Marcus’s skull before throwing him into a set of spinning helicopter blades, slicing the crazed Hybrid and killing him in the process. After Marcus and William are killed, Selene discovers that she is able to stand in the sunlight due to the pure Corvinus Strain from Alexander Corvinus and she and embraces Michael with a passionate kiss while reflecting that despite the uncertain future, she is confident that she need not face it alone. ''Underworld: Rise of the Lycans Selene narrates the beginning of ''Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. At the end of the film, she can be seen in a flashback of the opening scene of the first film, during which Kraven is heard telling her the truth about Viktor, her family, and Sonja, followed by Selene's response of "Lies". ''Underworld: Awakening'' Underworld: Awakening begins six months after the events of Underworld: Evolution. Humanity has become aware of the Vampire and Lycan population and has taken drastic measures to exterminate them. Selene and Michael plan to escape the city via boat before they themselves become victims of the Purge, but Selene is apprehended before they can reach safety and Michael is shot, falling into the water. Selene jumps in after him but he is unresponsive. She is then knocked unconscious by a grenade which separates them before either can reach the surface. Twelve years later, Selene awakens to find herself locked in cryogenic suspension and escapes the facility where she is being held captive. She soon discovers that the corporation Antigen is working on an antidote for the virus that creates Vampires and Lycans, and that they have held her captive in an induced coma for the past twelve years. Selene begins to experience visions after her escape which she follows, believing them to be a newly formed link to Michael. The visions lead her into a disused building where she meets David, a fellow Vampire. He is suspicious of her arrival, but their conversation is interrupted by another vision that Selene quickly chases down, as the person in question is cornered by Lycans. Following the vision, she discovers a young girl, and insists they can't leave her. David takes them to his Coven. On the way, they are attacked by Lycans and Selene witnesses the girl morph into a Hybrid. The girl recognizes Selene, explaining that she was the one that freed Selene, and that she is in fact Selene's daughter by Michael. They arrive at an underground refuge, where a small group of Vampires have been hiding since the Purge. David's father, Thomas, does not welcome Selene and her daughter, claiming Michael died twelve years ago and Selene is the cause for the destruction of the Vampire clan. Dr. Jacob Lane, director of Antigen, is revealed to be a Lycan alongside his son Quint; the antidote is actually to make Lycans immune to the deadly effects of silver. Unknown to Selene, Eve's Hybrid genetic code is required to achieve this, so Lane sends Quint with a small army of Lycans to the Vampire Coven. Selene tries to protect Eve, but they are once again separated when she comes face to face with Quint, who transforms into a gigantic "super Lycan", his body changed by injections using Eve's blood. Selene is defeated and knocked unconscious, allowing Eve to be captured by the Lycans. She wakes up to find David is mortally wounded and his father gave Eve over to the Lycans in exchange for a ceasefire. Selene is furious and revives David using her Immortal blood, then leaves the Coven to rescue her daughter. Able to survive in sunlight, Selene enlists the help of Detective Sebastian, a human who has been trying to investigate Antigen. He agrees to help save Eve, admitting he was married to a Vampire until she committed suicide during the Purge. Selene storms her way into Antigen's headquarters with explosives, forcing Dr. Lane to move Eve out of the building to "harvest" the antidote. All of the Lycan workers in the facility morph and attack Selene. During her escape, she stumbles upon Michael, cryogenically frozen in a laboratory marked as "Subject 0", and damages his cell to let him out. Selene then runs out to intercept Dr. Lane's van before he can escape the parking lot and causes it to crash. Quint arrives, transforming into his super Lycan form, and fights Selene. He corners her and is forced to revert to his human form in order to reach her, only for Selene to shove an activated silver-based grenade into Quint's body, causing him to explode. Selene returns to Eve and Sebastian tells them he will redirect the authorities to give them time to escape. She leaves with Eve and David to find Michael, but finds Michael's chamber already empty. Able to see through her parents' eyes, Eve learns he is on the roof. Selene, Eve and David run to the roof, only to find Michael has gone. Selene concludes she will find Michael, and take back the world from the humans and Lycans so the Vampires can rebuild themselves. ''Underworld: Endless War'' Selene is the protagonist of the 15-minute anime, Underworld: Endless War, which chronicles events during three different periods of time. In the first section, Selene is hunting a trio of Lycan brothers who are in control of a mansion that Kraven desires. Selene attacks the brothers in a sewer system beneath the mansion, killing the eldest brother, Darius, when he puts himself between her and his brothers. Seventy years later, Selene is dispatched back to Paris to protect a powerful Vampire known as Lord Clovis, the leader of the Paris branch of the Old World Coven, who are preparing to perform a traditional ceremony. She arrives in time to see the two remaining Lycan brothers, Vregis and Krandrill, attacking the ceremony, killing Lord Clovis. She is able to quickly kill Vregis, and cuts off Krandrill's arm as he flees. In the last section of Endless War, Selene and Michael are on the run from humans, who are actively hunting down and killing Immortals. She and Michael track Krandrill down and attack a hotel, where they discover Krandrill and a harem of female Lycans who are all loyal to him. After Michael fights Krandrill and knocks him through one of the hotel's windows, Selene jumps on top of the falling Lycan and empties her gun into him. Before she delivers the coup de grâce, Krandrill taunts her with the fact that her 'kind', (Vampires), are also being hunted, and that it's just a matter of time before she'll join him in hell. Selene brushes off Krandrill's remark and finishes him off before regrouping with Michael, commenting in her voiceover that she no longer feels the same as she had before, but as long as she and Michael are together she can live with living forever. ''Blood Enemy'' In the non-canon novel Blood Enemy, Selene is responsible for the death of renegade Lycan Leyba, tracking her down after Leyba's forces attack a Lycan weapons deal and are responsible for the deaths of both the Lycans and another member of Selene's team. During the confrontation with Leyba, Leyba briefly reflects that Selene's eyes are like 'hers' (Sonja's), but Selene never learns the meaning of this comment before she kills Leyba. Leyba's goals remain a mystery to Selene. Personality Selene is most often shown to be stoic, serious, cold and detached, as she seldom smiles and is not known for possessing a sense of humor. She never seems to laugh and she has admitted that she is not "good with feelings" and has been described as "cold as one already dead". She is usually all-business, and does not suffer fools gladly, given her opinion of arrogant and insufferable Vampires like Kraven. She is also headstrong and stubborn, even to a fault, refusing to walk away during suspicious activity or until the task at hand is completed. She is also fiercely independent. This sometimes reaches a point where she ignores even life-threatening injuries, such as falling unconscious from blood loss at the hands of Lucian even after Michael warned her of her condition and attempted to help her. Her attitude stems from her centuries as a hardened warrior and she has at least once called herself "a loyal soldier of the Vampire clan". Selene has a skewed, questionable sense of justice and an almost sociopathic lack of empathy towards those she considers different from her, seeing no ill in killing off an entire species to avenge the wrongs committed by a small group. Even when she learns that Lycans did not kill her family, she still refuses to admit fault or to feel guilt for the many she murdered during her long lifespan, even going so far as to blame Alexander Corvinus for all of her crimes when her behavior is called into question. When confronted by weaker opponents who could easily be simply incapacitated or avoided, Selene most often does not hesitate to kill them, showing no remorse for her actions afterward. Oddly, Selene allows the police officers who attack Michael to live, but gladly kills other non-lethal enemies, including Tanis's Vampire lovers, both of whom were much weaker than her. Selene is completely cold to the numerous killings of humans, Lycans and even other Vampires, never showing any signs of guilt or remorse (though she did tell Michael in "Evolution" that he really didn't want the deaths of innocent humans on his conscience). However, despite Selene's stony exterior, she is not entirely apathetic, as she tends to become distressed and vengeful when those she cares about are threatened, injured or killed. It is possible that her apathy may be a result of her training as a Death Dealer, although it is noted in the films that her hatred of Lycans goes well beyond that of others of her species. She has also shown a degree of morality; she makes it clear in the novelisations in particular that she will not drink human blood and takes a degree of care to avoid collateral damage in her fights when forced to engage the enemy in public. Even before acknowledging her deeper feelings for Michael, she did everything she could to avoid killing him even after learning that he had been bitten by Lucian, recognizing that he could not be blamed for what he had become. Selene does occasionally show her emotions and inner feelings, more so after she meets Michael. Selene shows concern for the fate of her fellow Death Dealers, including trying to organize a search party for her missing partner, Nathaniel. She is shown to be very hurt and near tears when Viktor betrays her, both when he sentences her to be judged by the Vampire Council for awakening him ahead of schedule, and again when she confronts him in regards to the murder of her family. Selene is distressed when Michael is in danger and is clearly devastated when she believes him to be dead in Evolution. She later shows compassion to her daughter Eve, disallowing the girl from cutting herself with a razor, and attacking the men who kidnap her. It would seem that the people Selene cares about the most, including Michael, Eve and Viktor (before she discovered that he was the murderer of her family) are the ones who bring out her emotions and her more compassionate side. Relationships Selene loved her human family very much and after their murder, Selene looks to Viktor as a replacement parent, idealizing him and looking to him when she believes the Coven is in trouble. Viktor claims at one point to love Selene "like a daughter," calling her "my child." Kraven claims that Viktor made Selene a Vampire to replace Sonja, his own daughter who he condemned to death. There seems to be some social expectations of Selene within the Coven due to her status as Viktor's favorite; for instance, she is expected to attend the party welcoming Amelia. Selene seems to have no other close relationships within the Coven, only being civil, but not overly social, with the other Death Dealers. She also seems to hold nothing short of contempt for the civilian members of the Coven, and in return, they do not seem to like her either. The "relationship" that Kraven fancies himself to be in with Selene is purely fictitious, and they spend much of the time fighting, and Selene has only disdain for him. Kraven's desire for Selene seems to be based as much out of power (she is, in a sense, a princess of the Coven) as out of lust. In a conversation between Selene and Viktor, Kraven's fixation with Selene is observed to be based on Selene's status as the only female in the Coven who does not desire Kraven's affections. Thus, the more Selene refused Kraven, the more he wanted her. Despite her aversion to becoming overly close to others, the Underworld: Evolution novelization states that Selene had infrequently shared her bed with men during her six century existence, though she had never fallen in love before she met Michael. Her relationship with Michael is rather more complicated. Her feelings towards him seem to evolve very quickly, and she rapidly becomes very devoted to him. In her first sighting of him during a subway shoot-out with the Lycans, Selene is immediately attracted to Michael, and is impressed at his bravery in diving out to help a woman who has been injured in the crossfire. She later feels gratitude towards him for saving her life after she passed out from heavy blood loss while driving and crashed into the river. She is also sympathetic when he tells her about his fiancèe's death. When she learns that he has been marked by a Lycan, she is adverse to the idea of killing him, not only because of her attraction to him, but because of how he has helped her and others. When he lies dying of silver nitrate poisoning, she only bites him in order to save his life by making him a Hybrid. He later thanks her, much to both of their embarrassment. Despite her apparent detachment, Selene is highly distraught when she comes to believe Michael is dead, and becomes even more deadly and vengeful as a result. When she discovers that Michael is alive and that she can withstand sunlight without burning due to Alexander's blood, she narrates that she looks to the future "with new hope." After her escape from Antigen, Selene's immediate priority is to learn what had happened to Michael, whom she had last seen injured and drowning before her capture and twelve years in cryogenic suspension, only to learn that the Hybrid she had been tracking was her and Michael's daughter, Eve. Although initially emotionally distant from Eve due to her grief over Michael's loss, Selene nevertheless assures her daughter that she will do everything in her power to take care of her, breaking into Antigen to save her and embracing Eve with obvious affection after they are reunited. Although most other Vampires regard her as a traitor for her role in Viktor and Marcus's deaths, the vast majority aren't even aware that she only betrayed the Vampires because the Elders had betrayed her first. es:Selene Category:Blood Enemy characters Category:Female characters Category:Awakening characters Category:Evolution characters Category:Underworld characters Category:Characters Category:Vampires Category:Death Dealers Category:Hybrids Category:Endless War characters Category:Eternal War characters Category:Alive Category:Blood Wars characters